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Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt are suing tabloid over breakup story

Game on! Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolieare taking legal action against the British tabloid News of the World for its story last month that alleged the couple were working out details of a split.

"The News of the World has failed to meet our clients' reasonable demands for a retraction of and apology for these false and intrusive allegations which have now been widely republished by mainstream news outlets," a lawyer working for the couple in London said in a statement. "We have advised them to bring proceedings, which they have now done."

In a letter cited in that statement, Sorrell Trope, the divorce attorney whose name was mentioned in the NOTW article, denied that he was in touch with the couple.

The Jan. 24 article, which was picked up by the Drudge Report late Jan. 23, the night of the Screen Actors Guild Awards, immediately caused a rip in the celebrity space-time continuum. Then on Jan. 25, the Monday after the Globes, the Ministry of Gossip treated the claims as a total joke, much to the dismay of readers clicking through for hard news.

Hayley Barlow, a spokeswoman for the News of the World, had no comment on the court filing.

[For the record, 7:58 p.m.: A previous version of this post said the Golden Globe Awards were held Jan. 23. In fact, Jan. 23 was the night of the Screen Actors Guild Awards; the Ministry was in fact in the SAG Awards press room when we first heard -- and dismissed -- the NOTW rumor. A thousand pardons for our award-season fumble, and thanks to commenter Theo Kingma for the catch./cdz]

Photo: Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt arrive on the red carpet for the premiere of "Inglourious Basterds" in Cannes, France, on May 20, 2009. Credit: Francois Mori / Associated Press